Wickenheiser hangs up the skates
Posted Jan 13, 2017 9:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY – Hayley Wickenheiser has retired from hockey after 23 years on Canada’s women’s team.
The 38-year-old from Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, announced her retirement Friday.
Canada’s all-time leading scorer with 168 goals and 211 assists in 276 games won four Olympic gold medals and seven world titles.
She was named the most valuable player of the Olympic women’s hockey tournament in 2002 and 2006.
Wickenheiser played in five Winter Olympics and also played softball for Canada in a Summer Games.
She says she’s ready to start the next chapter of her life.
“It would have been good to go to one more Olympics, but at the same time I am kind of excited about going on to something else,” said Wickenheiser.
Medical school and working in hockey in a different role is in her future.
“Some opportunities that I couldn’t put off any longer, which includes going to medical school and other opportunities within the game. The longer I sat on it, the more I thought it’s the right time for me to go.”
There were no girls teams for Wickenheiser when she started playing, so she ended up on boys teams where she wasn’t always welcome.
Wickenheiser is proud that’s changed.
“Also most proud of the fact that a little girl in this country, 5 years old, can walk into any rink with a hockey bag and stick and not have to run into the bathroom and hide in the bathroom stall like I used to have to or be afraid that someone would find out that she is a girl.”
Wickenheiser was the first woman to score a goal in men’s professional hockey when she played in Europe.
